Featured

Rob Peters

Affectionately known by locals as “little Germany”, because of its popularity with German tourists, Somerset West is a grand mix of wine farms, top–notch restaurants, majestic golf estates and adrenaline-inducing adventure activities. More of a town than a neighbourhood, you will need to set aside a couple of days to truly explore this beautiful area.

Featured

Rob Peters

On Saturday 28 March homes and businesses across the world will switch off their lights for an hour in support of Earth Hour. All across Cape Town, locals will lend their support by flicking the switch between 8.30pm and 9.30pm – here are 5 ways to celebrate Earth Hour in the Mother City.

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Buy your sweetheart flowers from the Adderley Street flower sellers
This Valentine’s Day we unearth a centuries-old African symbol for love, re-visit the origins of the day and celebrate love in the Mother City. Valentine’s Day, named after one of the early Christian martyrs, Valentine, was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496AD. The association with romantic love reportedly started in the 11th to 13th centuries with the rise of “courtly love”, which involved chivalrously expressing your admiration. This practice was established when sending Valentine’s cards became fashionable in the 19th century.
Today, Valentine’s Day is still associated with expressing admiration for that special someone, be it a public or secret declaration. The Mother City sets the scene for the perfect romantic day, with a candlelight dinner at one of the city’s excellent restaurants; a romantic stroll along Mouille Point promenade; picking up a gift of chocolate or jewellery and that perfect bunch of flowers.

The new pocket-size guide to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Photo supplied by E.etiquette
A pocket-size book with concise information about FIFA, South Africa and teams participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, has been published ahead of the big event, which kicks off in June.

The soccer day was sponsored by Totalsports
The town of Atlantis, located off the N7 highway outside Cape Town, is a small community with a rich but turbulent history. In the past, the town has been thrust into the spotlight because of gangsterism, drug and alcohol abuse and prostitution among its youth. Initiatives including the West Coast Environmental Co-operative have researched and implemented uplifting developmental programs, to stimulate and involve youngsters, encouraging sobriety, growth and responsibility.

Cape Town is one of the “World’s Most Beautiful Cities”. Photo courtesy InsideSouthAfrica
Popular website Forbes.com has published its list of the “World’s Most Beautiful Cities” for this year, and Cape Town has been included, along with cities such as Paris, Vancouver, Sydney, Florence, Venice and London.

The Cape Town Stadium Rugby Festival’s inaugural rugby match, between the Vodacom Stormers and a Boland invitational team, was held on Saturday.
Here are more photographs of the event, taken by Cape Town Tourism’s Aslam Levy.
The crowd performs a Mexican wave

The inaugural rugby match at the Cape Town Stadium was held on Saturday, as a test event for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. The Vodacom Stormers beat a Boland invitational team 47-13, while the South African Legends 10s team beat the International Legends 27-5 in the curtain-raiser.
These photos from the event were taken by Aslam Levy.
Spectators arrive at the magnificent stadium.

A ball sails through the posts as The Vodacom Stormers build a lead. Photograph: Aslam Levy.
The first recorded rugby game in South Africa took place on Green Point Common in 1862, and on Saturday, 40 000 supporters witnessed the inaugural rugby match at the newly built Cape Town Stadium on Green Point Common.

The South African Legends 10s team beat the International Legends 27-5 during the curtain-raiser for Cape Town Stadium‘s first ever full rugby match between The Vodacom Stormers and a Boland invitational team.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, photo courtesy Ian Junor aka ifijay
The Cape Town. Live it. Love it. Flickr group takes stunning pictures of Cape Town’s beautiful beaches, the city itself, the new stadiums and the people who fill them.
The group now boasts 500 members, who have posted more than 9 000 high-quality images taken in and around Cape Town.

Wonderbra model Elbe van der Merwe and her partner Beto Malfacini at the 2010 J&B Met.
Last weekend’s J&B Met at Kenilworth Racecourse will be remembered for the vibrant outfits inspired by the event theme, “In full colour.”

Fish Hoek gained its place in world history with the discovery of a fossilised skeleton, in 1926, in Peers Cave. The cave had been used as a shelter by a group of prehistoric people. A father and son team, named Peers, excavated the cave site, discovering stone tools and the remains of nine people, one of whom became known as Fish Hoek Man.

English football captain John Terry, photo courtesy Joe Gazman
Sex, balls, captaincy, presidency and role models: whether practising infidelity means you should be forced to step down as the president of a country, the captain of a football team, or as the world’s number one golfer, has become a hot topic in recent weeks.

Cape Town Stadium, photo courtesy Bruce Sutherland
Following the success of the free city-to-stadium transport offered at the first test event at the Cape Town Stadium on January 23, 2010, the city will be offering this service again, on a larger scale, for the Rugby Festival on February 6.

High fashion at the J&B Met
January ended on a high note in the summer heat, with the pounding hooves, high fashion and glamour of the J&B Met on Saturday, January 30, 2010. In February we celebrate Cape Town as a creative African hub and acknowledge innovative design in the Mother City.

De Grendel Estate
Pack your picnic basket, pop your bubbly, and share a romantic evening of musical brilliance at the Midsummer Melodies concert, to be held on Valentine’s Day (Sunday February 14) at 18h00 in the gardens of the Main House at De Grendel Estate in Plattekloof.

River Jetez, photo courtesy Golden Circle
The Bass family, their team and the three horses they trained which placed first, third and fourth in Cape Town’s J&B Met on the weekend, are prancing on air after their spectacular achievements.
The Cape’s premier horse race was won by River Jetez, a six-year-old filly who ran the race of her life to beat her famous brother Pocket Power, and clinch the ultimate prize in racing.

J&B Met winner River Jetez, ridden by jockey Glenn Hatt, wearing the colours of co-owners Cedric and Barbara Amm. Photo courtesy Golden Circle
Racehorse owner, Marsh Shirtliff, had an exceptional day at the races on Saturday when four of his horses ran in the J&B Met, including the race winner, River Jetez, and her famous brother, Pocket Power.
Shirtliff is co-owner of River Jetez, with Cedric and Barbara Amm. He also has a two-thirds ownership in her full blood brother, Pocket Power (placed third in the J&B Met after winning it for the previous three years), with Rina and Arthur Webber owning the other third, and he has an equal share partnership in Fort Vogue (placed fourth in the J&B Met) and in Blue Tiger, who ran 14th.

This photograph, of the Cape Town Stadium reflected in this spectator’s sunglasses, was taken at the inaugural soccer match at the stadium, by our Cape Town. Live it. Love it. group member Chris Preen aka Frames-of-Mind.

Slumdog Millionaire star Anil Kapoor, photo courtesy Angilee Shah
Lights, camera, action! Cape Town is becoming the location of choice for Bollywood film directors to shoot their films in Africa
Following the successful hosting of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, which showed off the Mother City to India and the world, Bollywood stars have been returning in their droves to shoot feature films in this striking city.

South African rock star, Ard Matthews of Just Jinger, and his partner, Landi Swanepoel, who is a top model. Photo: Deon Gurling.
Punters, celebs and fashionistas once again descended on Kenilworth Racecourse in their thousands on Saturday, for arguably the biggest event on the Cape Town social calendar – the J&B Met.